Samsara
by Stalker of Stories
Summary: According to Buddhism and Hinduism, the cycle of rebirth, Samsara, is meant to be escaped. Vampires have no soul, but when the previous soul of one is sundered from Samsara, he regains it, and with the soul comes an obsession. CD reincarnate of EC. EC/HP
1. Right View

Warnings: Contains many references to Hinduism and Buddhism (not in a convert-y way – I'm an atheist – but in a "this religion works well for this story" way), slash, Twilight (scary stuff there), crude language, shorter chapters than my norm

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and associates of whom I am not one. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and associates of whom I am (thankfully) not one. No views, religious or otherwise, are meant to reflect the views of the author (well... except the ones that make fun of Twilight, but those are well deserved!).

1: Right View

All was normal in the Gryffindor Common Room on June 23rd, or as normal as it ever was. The Weasley twins were making things explode, Colin Creevey was boasting about how he and Dennis had _finally_ figured out how to change the "Potter Stinks" badges to "Hogwarts Pride!" that morning, not realizing that the badges on his robes was spouting sparks and hissing insults to his mother in Welsh, and –

"Honestly Ronald!"

Hermione Granger was yelling at Ron Weasley. Yes, all was normal, or as normal as could be expected only 24 hours before the final challenge of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry smiled dispassionately at the scene his friends were making by the largest window; it wasn't as if they _really_ understood the way his guts were flipping at that moment, how Merlin-damned _scared_ he was of what was looming over him in less than a day's time. They thought it would be _spells_ that would save him.

Had spells saved him in first year, when he faced Quirrell? No! Had spells saved him in second year, trying to stop Tom Riddle and save Ginny? He hadn't even had his wand on him at the time! Harry loved magic, truly he did, but he had little faith in how far he could defend himself with spells.

His friends didn't understand that all he could trust in trouble like that was his instincts, the reflexes he honed escaping bouts of Harry Hunting. And the Triwizard Tournament, which killed about 40 percent of the competitors over the age of 15 – which he _wasn't_ yet – was certain to be at least twice so harrowing as the dangers the Boy-Who-Lived had faced in years past.

Well, minus the Voldemort part.

"If you would just pay attention instead of sleeping or playing hangman with Harry for once!" Hermione was right in the middle of her mid-exam stresses. They only had the History Exam left in the morning after all, so it was a mystery to anyone why she of all people would worry. She was the only witch in their year who actually paid any mind to Binns; it was her fault that anyone in Gryffindor attended the lessons at all, purely from fear of a rant like the one she was giving Ron, only ten times worse. "Do you even know _anything_ about the subject?"

"Er, well, I know..." he trailed off. "Um... India's got lots of Dark wizards?" He hazarded a guess. Harry almost hit himself with a book. Even _he_ knew that one was wrong!

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! Alright, I'm not even going to _try_ to quiz you. Now sit down so I can _lecture_ you on how completely _wrong_ that is!" Hermione was apparently ignoring the fact that Ron was already seated under the window. Harry looked over the top of his book that he wasn't reading and sighed. He could imagine Hermione as a mother. It was terrifying.

"To begin, you have to understand a little bit about the dominant religion of India at the time all of these '_historical things_'," she used air-quotes and sent Lavender Brown a glare as an indication that the girl who had initially used the phrase "historical things" should probably pay attention. "Hinduism is not like Christianity or other such religions; it endorses magic and as such many magical people from the ages of its main prevalence were practitioners of the Hindu faith. One of the main beliefs of Hinduism is reincarnation, that all souls are reborn again into other bodies. We knew now for this to be fact, to an extent – obviously souls eaten by dementors are an exception to this, as are the souls of humans turned into vampires. These bodies are not always human. In a past life you might have been a tree or a dragonfly or a snidget for all we know.

"Part of their belief is that being reborn is a _bad thing_," obviously she saw fit to dumb down her language when Ron had tried – and failed – to raise his hand to ask what a word was. Like reincarnation. And prevalence. "Continuing to be reborn is taxing on the soul, and escape from that cycle, what they call 'samsara', is the goal of both Hinduism and its offshoot, Buddhism. To achieve Nirvana – that is, freedom from Samsara – is the dream of many practitioners, but only one in a million manage it. Usually less even than that. They usually attempt to do this through meditation and fasting.

"Maybe with that sort of background knowledge the lesson will make more sense to you," Hermione sighed. She took a seat, claiming the cushion under the windowsill as her own. "In the sixth century Ano Domini, a Buddhist wizard – no Dean, Ano Domini is _not_ the name of the wizard, it means After Birth in reference to the Christian Messiah. Shouldn't you know this? You said your mum was Anglican! Anyway, a buddhist wizard whose name was lost to the ages was desperate to get free of Samsara. His soul was not a young one, but it lacked the wisdom to manage to free itself, and his sanity was going thin. He invented a spell which was a last-ditch resort for any wizard desperate enough to need it. He called it the Ah Veda, in reference to the Vedas, which were the books entailing the many rituals of the Hindu faith. After freeing his soul to Nirvana, the Brahmin caste – the priests and scholars, I won't even _try_ explaining right now – locked away his Ah Veda, hoping it would not rise again as they felt that an unearned freedom from Samsara was cheating and could harm the balance.

"Twelve hundred years later, when the British set up their rule of India in Calcutta, they found a sealed trunk that took seven fully trained curse breakers to open. Inside was the scroll detailing the A Veda. When the populace found out, they just thought of it as a way to kill prisoners, but because of a mix-up in the translation they ended up with an incantation of _'Avada Kadavra'_ we know today, which is a terribly warped version of what was otherwise a rather humane spell." Hermione was a little flush and silently accepted when Harry passed her the water Dobby had brought him a while ago.

Her lecture having drawn a crowd of fourth years desperate to understand, Neville started waving his arm in the air. "Um, H-Hermione? How can a spell like... like the Killing Curse have been 'humane'? I mean, it's an _Unforgivable_; you've seen..." He trailed off, swallowed thickly and clenched his teeth, obviously hit by the memory of Moody torturing the spider again. Now Harry knew what happened to the Longbottoms, he understood the reaction a lot better.

"Good question Neville," Hermione said between sips of water. "There is a large difference between the Ah Veda and the _Avada Kadavra_, which is how they function. The Ah Veda is simply a pulse of magic that severs to connection between the soul and the spirit in a way that prevents it from inspiring a new body into creation, so it can do nothing _but_ go on to the proper afterlife. And before you ask, yes, individual personalities _do_ go off from the soul to something else, but the soul is different, aright? Now, the _Avada Kadavra_ is very different. It isn't a mere pulse of magic. The user is actually sending out part of their own soul to _push_ the victim's soul from their body. This is an altogether less wholesome experience than the Ah Veda, but even worse, it damages the soul of the user. That's why it is called a Dark spell, when the Ministry used it for executions for fifty years. Well, that and when Grindelwald dug it out of the Ministry archives..."

Harry managed to zone out as Hermione started talking about the war that went on at the same time as the Second World War, the one Dumbledore stopped. It was simply too recent for it to occur to the school to put that on any History exam, even the OWL or NEWT exam. To muggles the War was a big part of history – he still remember Mrs Peet's lectures on it from year five – but to the magical world, there were so many living people (and things) that remembered it that it just didn't count.

With a sigh, Harry did his best to push all things historical out of his mind. So now he knew his parents would never be "reincarnated". There had been some lessons in first year about things like that, and Harry had sort of hoped that Ginny was a reincarnation of his mother until he realized she was born several months before Lily Potter's death. There was no need to even think of finding their reincarnations.

Focusing on the thought of not needing to be reincarnated any time soon, Harry turned his attention back to his book. Right. Survival time.

* * *

The downside of living in Alaska, Edward decided, was that the sun _never went down_ in the summer. Worse, it was June 24th, only two days since the longest day of the year. They had maybe an hour of not-daytime, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It wasn't _hot_, but what did heat matter to an immortal vampire who could be killed by nothing short of being torn to pieces and tossed into a raging fire? No, sun meant he couldn't leave the house or reveal himself for the humanoid diamond that he was.

He really wished there were more trees on the property. But they were moving further south in July, to an area in Washington near where they had lived some decades ago. The only downside to that area was that there was a pack of wolves nearby, but the treaty should ensure all was well on that front.

"Your move," Emmett seemed just as bored as Edward, but not so rightfully. Sure, the playstation was broken, but they had _three_ other gaming systems, and Emmett was just pouting because he accidentally broke it when he was about to beat Final Fantasy something or other – Edward ignored the little voice in his head (or, rather, Emmett's) that said _9_ – for the umpteenth – eighth – time. Emmett also had a wife to whom he could go to for comfort. So Edward supposed he ought to be grateful that Emmett decided to entertain him instead with a game of chess, even if Edward _could_ see through all his strategies.

Except that the women of the house were busy planning the vow renewal ceremony for Jasper and Alice next month and no man or vampire was brave enough – or stupid enough – to interrupt _that_ by whining about a broken game consol. It would be downright suicidal, and so Emmett was settling by_silently_ whining to Edward while pretending that he was just enjoying being soundly trounced by his brother at chess.

Edward moved his knight to D3, taking down a pawn at the same time. "Check." It was so boring! He glanced at the clock and lamented that it was still only noon. Summers in Alaska were absolute _torture_.

Three moves later, Edward's black pieces had Emmett's white King cornered, and the larger of the two wandered off to try to find _some_ way to entertain himself that wouldn't get him beaten so easily again. The whir of the Gamecube could already be heard from the den as Edward cleaned up the pieces alone. Apparently Emmett was over his post-destructive depression and was ready to play another video game then, and a one-player in case Edward decided to beat him at something else.

It was not as though it was Edward's fault he could read minds!

8 timezones away, two teenaged boys grabbed on to a portkey, not realizing that one of them would not be returning in the same state as he left.

As Edward placed the chess board back on its shelf, he felt a slight prickling sensation on the back of his neck, setting him immediately on guard. He turned slowly, uncertain, and it was at that moment that Cedric Diggory, age 17, died, and Edward Cullen, age 102 (as of four days prior), learned of the existence of his apparent reincarnation.

Although he did not know it, vampires lost their souls when they were turned because they were "dead", though their personalities, their "selves" were kept in the body. Hermione Granger knew this, because Hermione Granger knew _everything_, but Edward Masen hadn't been a terribly religious fellow in life, not in the traditional church-goer sense, a sort of lax Lutheran who _believed_ but didn't want to be told how to, and Edward Cullen knew little more about religion in general than what was taught in school. Having never attended a magical school, having been a muggle prior to his turning, Edward did not know how much of what various religions preached was fact and therefore did not know that, when he "died" his soul was reincarnated.

Edward Cullen would never know that the soul of Edward Masen first became a human woman – for he _had_ been a good man – who lived in Japan. Tamura Hitomi died trying to protect her children in the bombing on Nagasaki in 1945. Some months later the soul was reborn as a piglet, killed a few months after that for food, and then he was reborn a wolf, a butterfly, a chimpanzee, until 1963 when it was once again a man, Aurelio Hernandez. He died on New Year's Day in 1985 in a bank robbery; it was his first day as an accountant. Having been a good, if boring man, Aurelio Hernandez, once Tamura Hitomi, once Edward Masen, was reborn on October the first, 1985, to the Diggory family.

Cedric Diggory was killed using the _Avada Kadavra_ on June 24th, 2003. (1) His soul lost the ability to encourage a new body into existence – something that would take at _least_ six months to recover if it were not drawn directly to Nirvana.

Which, as it just so happened, was what happened. Never in the short period of the curse's use as a tool for execution nor in the time since Grindelwald had found the records detailing the curse and bringing it to popularity had the reincarnation of a living vampire been killed. No sundered soul had ever had a living body to return to. But Cedric Diggory's soul did have a place to go; the astral journey took all of three seconds, from the moment Peter Pettigrew's soul lashed out to kill him to the moment when Edward fell to the floor of the Cullen-Hale home screaming.

Those three seconds were enough to erase a good portion of the personality imprinted in the soul from Cedric Diggory; the vestiges of a soul's previous personality were always erased by birth, the nine months of human gestation being ten times as much as was necessary. But there was still many impressions of a lifetime embedded, tiny quirks and certain characteristics that were too strong to be immediately erased. The half-life of an impression upon a soul was ten seconds, leaving Edward with over half the impressions as soon as it hit. His mind reading ability wrote the information so quickly into his mind that, by the time the information faded from the soul, almost half of it was written into him.

This, of course, was the source of the screaming. Well, that and having the rather _intense_ feeling of being killed. The _Avada Kadavra_ wasn't so painless a death as the Wizarding World claimed.

When Edward stopped screaming, Emmett was hovering over him, having lifted and swiftly carrying him to Edward's room to lay on the black leather couch. The rest of the family – minus Carlisle, since his work at the hospital was only in windowless rooms and the car park was underground – was hovering at the door, each in their own states of worry.

Edward was going haywire, emotionally speaking; he was _dying_ and he was _dead_ and he _knew things_ that Edward Cullen had never experienced but knew so well was the truth because he had heard of some of the people – it was impossible for a magical creature to have _not_ heard of Harry Potter! – and there was so much detail about some of the little things that it simply couldn't be denied.

He felt sorry for Jasper, who was surely feeling the miniature maelstrom within Edward _and_ the worry of the rest of the family.

"Edward?" Esme's voice was soft as she entered the room. Her hand on Emmett's bicep made him step back quickly, allowing their mother to hover properly. "Edward, how are you feeling? What happened?"

Edward tried to figure out how to explain; the best he could come up with was, "Ow." Then he tried harder – quite glad that he wasn't human then, else his vocal chords would have been damaged; it happened to Cedric when he was three and Death Eaters attacked the house, but his mother was a healer and fixed him up. It took a week to heal even with magic. "I was reincarnated."

After explaining as best he could with the slew of half-explanations residing in his head – a compilation of his own knowledge and that of the late Cedric Diggory, but mostly Cedric's – Edward managed to convey what little he knew to his family by the time Carlisle arrived home. Alice made the explaining easier, as she had apparently seen the flash of green light a micro-instant before it occurred and Edward's fit, making her the second person to arrive after it happened, Emmett being the uncontested first.

None of them made much more sense of the matter than he did, but Edward was still sorting things out in his head. He trusted implicitly that he would, over time, understand it.

He also had puzzle pieces he would not allow his family to see, several of which involved _the_ Harry Potter. Specifically, how Cedric Diggory, Edward's previous-future incarnation, had been nursing a crush on that person for the past few months since learning how utterly _selfless_ he was, and knowing that Harry was jealous of him for taking Cho Chang, a _friend_, to the Yule Ball.

For months after, even in the move to Forks, Washington, and starting school at Forks High, Edward found his thoughts revolving around Harry Potter. He blamed it on the pieces of Cedric's personality that had stuck to him. It made him more lively, he smiled a bit more, was less _self-absorbed_, though he hated to admit it. There was something about the return of his soul that made Edward more alive, but even when he tried to ponder _that_, his mind would unerringly return to one scruffy, green-eyed teenager. He seemed painfully young to Edward, even though he had been only a few years younger than Cedric. That relationship would have been perfectly acceptable for them – Edward and his family had a special viewpoint due to their long lives didn't care about homosexuality one way or the other – but Edward was one-hundred and two years old.

He should _not_ be thinking about Harry Potter that way.

Edward let himself _drown_ in school. As a sophomore at Forks High, he took Physics – Chemistry was apparently a freshman class, which was a bit of a change up from most of Edward's past schools – and other classes that allowed him to shine. He had always done well in school, they all did, but now he actually _tried_, to distract himself, Edward came off as a scholar.

If his family realized he was interacting more with his classmates at Forks High than any previous school, they never mentioned it. He knew for a fact that Jasper did, and _liked_ it, since Jasper took it as a sign at Edward was becoming less sullen.

If only they knew how much Cedric had changed him!

Rosalie didn't realize there was any change whatsoever until he laughed at a "that's what she said" comment made by Mike Newton in the lunch hall their first February in town. Alice noticed it was getting harder to read him because while the change made him more decisive, it made him less stubborn and more spontaneous. Emmett was merely amused that his brother was willing to rib him in return.

Edward was actually somewhat glad for the tweaks to his personality, but the sudden addition of a human soul was rather... strange. He felt more human, a little more in control, but he also felt a little distanced from his family. He still drank blood just as often, but there was something not the same.

Like the fact that he didn't _sparkle_ anymore.

Sometimes when it was sunny he would go to school anyway and claim that he couldn't go camping with his family because of a class project or because what they were studying in a class would be important in the Final so he couldn't skip out, but he joined them most times. It made the disappearances seen less suspect; it was Carlisle's idea since the Hospital car park, and indeed the Hospital itself, were too easy lit by the sun for him to keep up their charade.

It took just over a year for the family to become accustomed to the "new" Edward, the Edward who could take a joke, who could temper his mind-reading abilities thanks to the meager knowledge of occlumency his previous-future incarnation had possessed. They would take some months to grow accustomed to his next change.

Rosalie would blame it on anyone _but_ Edward, and Edward wouldn't blame it on anyone. The pair had gone out to pick up groceries so Esme could get her cooking urges out, something which was currently leading her to bake gross quantities of apple bread (the Cedric part of Edward lamented how it would taste like mud, because he loved apples), and a group of people with bright red hair in the vegetable section caught Edward's attention.

He knew them. They were Cedric's neighbors back in Ottery St Catchpole. He couldn't remember their names, just the surname "Weasley". They were wizards. A matronly woman was hitting twins on the backs of their heads for juggling eggplants while her husband examined an ear of corn, hiding a smile. The daughter, somewhat pretty for a human, looked a mix between annoyed and amused with her older brothers.

More red caught Edward's eye then, and he turned his head minutely.

Two boys were rushing over two the cluster of redheads, but only one had red hair. The other... the other...

Edward forgot to keep up his illusion; he did not blink or breathe, he simply _stared_. That scruffy black hair, those bright green eyes... he'd know that person anywhere. It had only been a _year_. One year, two months, one week, three days... it had only been a year, but Edward could see the changes in Harry. He was taller, average height for a man, and doubtless with some growing left to do. He wore a t-shirt, the kind that was tight enough on him that Edward could see his nipples and precisely how much Harry had filled out over the past year. His hair was cropped shorter into a trendy cut that left his bangs long enough to hide the scar without obscuring those bright eyes. It was almost too much that he still wore glasses, even if they were half-frames rather than the terrible ones Edward remembered.

Edward swallowed dryly and was too lost to protest when Rosalie started dragging him away from the produce section.

**Author's Note: If all goes well, this will be an 8 chapter story (each chapter having the title of one of the Eightfold Path) and an Epilogue. However, I have three endings I'm debating between – one bittersweet, one sorta-happy sorta-creepy, and the last being the "fairytale" ending – but the tone of the entire story stays the same throughout, so hopefully I'll have no trouble when I need to decide. I will write all 3, but there is a poll up for which will be the "official" ending that appears in this story's file.**

**Yeah... actually made it Edward/Harry this time. Scary, ne? And this isn't just a one-shot, not even a long one like In an Instant was! It's an actual chaptered series... not too long of one mind, just a short series (max of 50k words, I'm sure), but it's something.**

**When I started writing this series, I thought I would write it over the summer. Instead I wrote two chapters and then stopped writing entirely for a year and a half. Hopefully that will soon be fixed.**

(1) I bumped the Harry Potter timeline by 8 years to match up with Twilight. (June 2003 is a year and a half before Bella goes to Forks. The end of this chapter is September 2004, 4 months pre-Bella)

Last edit: 30 November 2011


	2. Right Intention

Warnings: Contains many references to Hinduism and Buddhism (not in a convert-y way – I'm an atheist – but in a "this religion works well for this story" way), slash, Twilight (scary stuff there), crude language, shorter chapters than my norm

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and associates of whom I am not one. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and associates of whom I am (thankfully) not one. No views, religious or otherwise, are meant to reflect the views of the author (well... except the ones that make fun of Twilight, but those are well deserved!).

2: Right Intention

It had always been in Edward Masen's nature to obsess over things. As a human in the early 1900s, his obsession started with music and it was only natural that he would learn to play the piano; he was not a natural genius at it, but he was so diligent and focused on it even in childhood that if he had been he might well have put Mozart to shame. His next obsession was with money, because his family was just under the median of middle class at that time, and he wanted to be _above_ that line when he was an adult. This waned over time, but vestiges of it remained. His third obsession was reading, and though it was lesser than his fascination with music, it remained prevalent even after his turning.

In the decades since his turning, Edward had been obsessed with many things. His love for music grew with each new style he heard over that time, to the point where his other obsessions – justice, his constant feeling that vampires were soulless (which, little did he know, was true), and educating himself beyond what any human could were just a few – were dwarfed by it.

Until now.

It was in Edward Cullen's nature to obsess over things, because vampires felt everything more keenly than humans. So when his newest obsession would have been different a hundred years ago, it was instead so great that it made his love for music seem like a phase. Rosalie would blame the reintegration of Cedric for this, and she would be entirely right. It had never been in Cedric Diggory's nature to obsess over anything; he was too nice, too laid back to really obsess over anything, but his crush on Harry Potter had only grown stronger in Edward over the past year, and combining those feelings with Edward's obsessive nature...

Well, Esme was lucky that Edward even came home with Rosalie after the visit to Walmart, for all the minute he had taken to unload the groceries and say good-bye again.

Following Harry Potter's scent had been so entirely easy. Edward had never smelled him before, and yet when he _did_ he knew the scent so completely, as if it had been locked in Cedric's memories despite Edward knowing that it wasn't. The only time they had ever been close enough that Cedric could have smelled Harry, both had smelled too much of blood and sweat to make out an individual scent, and humans so rarely could.

Harry Potter smelled like wood polish and the wind, but underneath those scents was his distinctly human scent and the scent of magic, his personal magic, his _soul_, that was so easily discerned from every other person on earth Edward thought he could find Harry from thousands of miles away.

As it was, he only had to follow the trail one mile away from Walmart to a rather nice house of decent size on the outskirts of town. Not so far on the outskirts as the Cullens' of course, but far enough out from the center that there were few beyond it. Edward lamented that the scent was so far from his own home, but there were only so many houses that went up for sale in a town like Forks.

At the time of his arrival, Harry and the red-heads – Weasleys he read from their minds, the Weasleys – were unloading bag upon bag of food from an old Ford Anglia that just _nagged_ at Edward's finer sensibilities, specifically those related to automobiles. That was another obsession, one that his entire family shared. The vehicle was old and smelled feral. If he had forgotten for even an instant that these people were wizards, that car would have reminded him.

"Harry dear, could you help me with putting the groceries away? We're running out of room!" The mother of the group had a nice voice, though Edward thought that it was probably more accustomed to motherly tones and scolding than simply asking for help. Harry's head nodded as he made for the house, his bangs moving a little as he did, the rest of his hair too short to do more than quiver. Edward stuck to the tree-line, up in the limbs since people never thought to look up, and moved so that he could see in through the kitchen window.

Harry entered bearing one more plastic Walmart bag full of eggplants – Edward noted in his thoughts that the mother (Molly) had bought them only because the twins (Fred and George) had been juggling them. She'd felt guilty about letting anything those two might have tampered with into muggle hands, especially when the Weasleys had moved there because the US Department of Magic wanted Arthur to look into reports throughout Washington and Idaho of magical tampering. Or something like that. Edward only paid her thoughts cursory note, which meant he did get most of the pertinent information.

The Boy-Who-Lived's thoughts weren't actually too interesting. He was thinking about when they would expand the back garden for some Quidditch, wondering if the locals would notice him and Ron playing in the woods, wishing Ginny would stop flirting with him because it was _awkward_ even though he knew she didn't mean it – Edward checked and was relieved to find that she really didn't – and various little things that could be found in _anyone's_ head. Edward was a little disappointed.

Shouldn't Harry think deeply profound thoughts? Cedric had always believed he must, considering his fame and all. But no, as Edward found, Harry's thoughts were as interesting as Mike Newton's (which were thankfully more than Eric Yorkie's), even if the subject matter itself was different.

While Harry tried to remember which of the cupboards was for vegetables – for all Arthur Weasley tried, Molly wouldn't allow a Fridger-baiter in her house because who even know what a Fridger was? What if it was dangerous and baiting it resulted in someone getting hurt? – Edward marveled at the normalcy. He envied it so deeply that he wondered if he might explode.

Never mind that Carlisle had heard whispers two months back that Voldemort was defeated – by Harry, Edward had known without a shadow of a doubt, because any incident involving one would someone involve the other – which Edward sort of expected to fill Harry's thoughts for months to follow, but shouldn't there be something? Any inkling to show that Harry Potter was not just your run of the mill school boy?

He killed Voldemort at one! Faced him again at eleven! He fought a basilisk at twelve with naught by a sword and killed it! He warded off one hundred dementors simultaneously! _He won the Triwizard Tournament!_

And yet there Edward sat, in a tall fir tree still dripping from the rain two hours past, listening in on such purely normal thoughts that he almost had to wonder.

Edward did not return home that night, or the one following. He received a call from Carlisle on the third night, and so he went hunting with the family, though he refused to tell them why he had been away. They didn't really ask, either, though Rosalie gave him the stink-eye throughout the entire hunt. They had worked out who the family was, and Rosalie at the least knew something was up. Edward did his best to dissuade her of the notion, but she had always been a difficult one.

Later, Edward would be a bit ashamed of his... stalking, for lack of a better term. But it wasn't for a few more days, the day before school began, that the idea of his obsessing being potentially _bad _was even suggested to him.

At wand point.

Edward didn't even know how it happened. One moment he was hiding, watching Harry meander through the woods, enjoying the beauty of nature – rain or no rain, Harry could appreciate it easily – when Edward found himself flat on his back, ignoring the water falling into his eyes from the heavens, and simply wondering if anyone got the license on the car that ran him down. A moment later he was looking down the length of Harry's holly wand – something Cedric had seen, and Edward had glimpsed once or twice – into wide green eyes.

Wide was not a word normally used to describe Harry's eyes. They were an almond shape, and prominent on his face, but they weren't wide, as with fear or surprise, very often. At this moment in time, they were both.

What's more, it seemed Harry _did_ have interesting thoughts. As if a veil had been removed from Edward's eyes, he could hear thoughts below the everyday ones that seemed to circle in Harry's mind. He suddenly knew that Harry had been full aware of being stalked the past few days.

Edward felt like a jerk, especially when other thoughts came to his attention, ones Harry actually voiced.

"Who are you? You're a real idiot if you think disguising yourself as Cedric will make me easier to get to," Harry was scowling at him, but his eyes were wide and his thoughts open. Belatedly, Edward realized that Harry had been using occlumancy to keep his deeper thoughts secret. The shock had made him lose concentration and he was hastily fighting to get them back up, but that was fine. Now Edward knew. "Well? Answer me."

"Edward Cullen; I am a vampire." It was only fair that he reveal it. It wouldn't take more than a couple meetings for a wizard to figure it out, and given how much Edward _wanted_ – no, _needed_ – the teen before him, it was only natural that he should share that.

"So magical disguises wouldn't work... you honestly look like Cedric," the green eyes narrowed, and the occlumancy shield snapped up again, closing off Edward's access to the deeper thoughts. But that was fine, because now that Edward knew they were there, his interest in Harry had only grown. "How old are you? Where is the rest of your coven, or have you got one at all?"

"17," Edward knew better than to leave the answer of his age so short, however. "I was turned in 1918, making my overall age one hundred and three. As to my family... Esme is probably at home painting, Rosalie and Alice were planning to go shopping, so their husbands, my brothers, are likely being dragged along. Carlisle would be at the hospital right about now. That is all of us." Maybe he was being loose lipped, but this was _Harry Potter_. He wouldn't betray the trust Edward put in him.

Harry was, quite naturally, a little dumb-founded. "Hospital?"

"Carlisle is a doctor," Edward explained without further prompting. "He is over three hundred years old, and he has very good self control. His occupation has been that of a doctor for some time."

_Settled vampires; must be sangualis,_ went through Harry's surface thoughts. Edward might have had to look it up, but having access to Harry's head meant he knew that that was the wizarding term in the EU for a vampire that drinks the blood of animals, based on Latin of course.

"Correct," Edward nodded. He completely forgot that he hadn't mentioned his "ability" yet.

"What?" Harry blinked down at him, now less threatened feeling – the scent of his pheromones had lost the fight-or-flight tinge, now smelling more relaxed and tantalizing – in favor of being confused.

"My ability is enhanced natural legilimancy," was the explanation given. Edward liked to listen to the cogs working in Harry's head, even if he could only see the first layer below his face rather than all the inner workings. "I cannot read absolutely everything from you though. You are quite good at occlumancy." There was a flash in Harry's head of a hook-nosed man that the Cedric-side of Edward could recognize. Professor Snape had taught him then.

"Right," Harry had backed up a pace but kept his wand trained on the vampire before him. Edward commended him for the decision, but felt rather saddened at the distrust. He would gain it in due time. "Why do you look like Cedric Diggory?"

Edward, naturally, could not stop himself from explaining that "He was my reincarnation." Of course, he had done a lot of research on reincarnation and the factuality of it since regaining his soul. The little tidbits of information retained on Cedric's soul had been enough to make him curious, and he was quick to buy up several volumes from a small wizarding shop in Port Angeles when they arrived in Washington – there was no wizarding population in Alaska to speak of, outside of those working at the wildlife reserves – which made him better educated on the subject.

Learning a bit more about vampires had been part of that deal, and Edward imparted what he could quickly. He spoke the most of Cedric's soul returning to him on June 24th, just over one year ago, and what he had learned from it. He did not, however, mention Cedric's crush. He didn't want to scare Harry off. (The irony that he was saying all these ridiculous things and was worried that telling Harry that Cedric had "liked" him would make the young wizard run off when nothing yet had would never strike the vampire.)

"So what does that make you? Some half-Cedric vampire who thinks he can weasel his way into my life?" Harry didn't look too pleased with the information. "What do I call you then? Cedward Diglen? Edric Cullery?"

It didn't occur to Edward that as a human he probably would have winced at the spite in those words. He could read Harry's thoughts, the surface ones least ways, and knew that it was a passing anger, short lived. "Edward Cullen. Just Edward, preferably." The fake names sounded silly... and he _wasn't_Cedric Diggory. He was Edward Cullen. He was _Edward_. It didn't matter that he had picked up some pieces of Cedric in the process, he was Edward.

End of story.

"Right," Harry said again. His wand arm lowered, but the stick didn't leave his hand. Edward knew that they only reason Harry had dropped his aim was because his arm was screaming in protest at being held up for so long. During the discussion, Edward had been allowed to prop himself up on his elbows so that the rain would stop dripping in his eyes. It messed with his vision. "Well, we were warned of vampires in the area. I shouldn't be so surprised at weird stuff happening around me any more. Just stop stalking me, okay?"

Edward agreed, albeit reluctantly. Alright, so stalking was illegal and immoral... but he'd been doing what he could to subdue his obsession, feeding it. If he just let it fester... well, even with the changes fostered by Cedric, Edward knew himself.

"I'll see you later then," Harry waved dismissively and walked away, leaving Edward seated in the mud to stare after him.

* * *

If Harry had realized how right he was, he wouldn't have said anything. Just yesterday he told the vampire they'd see each other later – Forks was a small town, and it was likely the vampire coven lived in or around the town, after all – and as soon as Arthur drops them off at the muggle school, a silver car pulled into the school's lot, disgorging 5 "teens" who were too beautiful to be anything other than vampires. Or veela, but considering Cedric's pre-incarnation had mentioned he was part of a family of seven...

Well, Harry only squeezed Ginny's shoulder and gestured for Ron to join the rest of the students lining up outside of a building that said "Cafeteria" in large font. A few paper signs were pointing in that direction, telling everyone to pick up class schedules, and who was Harry to protest? Ginny and Ron were both paying more attention to the vampires, naturally, but having already met one, Harry was more keen on retrieving his death sentence.

The Weasleys joined the far right line (U through Z, the neglected section of the alphabet), while Harry was two down from them (M through P). Three of the vampires were in the far-left line (A through C) with the other two waiting two lines to the left of them (G through J). Each line moved slowly, given the school population actually being _higher_ than that of Hogwarts (1), and Harry rather wished Mr Weasley hadn't been so enchanted with the idea of his children and pseudo-son attending muggle school. Not because he found waiting tedious; he was British and could probably be a professional at queuing (2) even if he was the adventurous type, but because of the people.

The boy behind him in the queue, a blond named Mike Newton, immediately singled him out as new and decided Harry needed to be shown the ropes. This in and of itself was not a bad thing. Mike seemed like a nice bloke, and he was definitely funny with a crowd-pleasing attitude, but he acted as if Harry didn't know _anything_.

This was likely because Mike had no idea how little Harry cared about rain or the like.

"Off in that far line, I'm sure you've noticed them, the really really ridiculously good-looking (3) people? Well, okay, only three are in that line, looks like the Hales breezed through; Rosalie probably charmed them to the front rather than deal with her peers," Mike rolled his eyes to show his opinion of such behavior. "The three still in line, those are the Cullens. Emmett's the big guy. He seems pretty good natured, but Rosalie, his girlfriend, has him tied around her finger, so he won't talk to anyone. Alice is the little one bouncing up and down like a puppy. She's kind of aloof but she does talk a bit at least, so that's something. The last one is Edward; he's a pretty cool guy, nothing like his family. I mean, he's still kinda distant, but he definitely knows how to have fun!"

Harry nodded along, slightly surprised. He could see what Mike meant. While the other two "Cullens" were talking only to each other, Edward had no trouble chatting with others in his line and returned every wave and greeting sent to him, even those that he should have pretended not to hear, being a vampire. He had a sort of social ease; was it entirely unreasonable that all Harry could see in that instant was Cedric? He thought not.

This, however, was really the only useful bit of information Mike told Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived appreciated the sentiment, really he did, but he was glad when he was out of the line and able to return to Ron and Ginny, even if it was only for a few moments so they could discern if they shared any classes. Harry had English and French with Ron, and Ginny was in his Phys Ed class at the end of the day, after she left Advanced Algebra with Ron, but other than that there was no connection between any of their schedules. They parted ways, Harry and Ron heading to English and Ginny to her History class.

High school was much like being up a river without a paddle. This applied to both the class work - it was all "review", but Harry couldn't make heads nor tails of it, and the Weasleys were even worse off - and walking in the school. Despite the "small" class sizes, everyone seemed to be everywhere at once, and more than a few times Harry wished he was back at Hogwarts where there were ten ways to get from one class to the next, not counting the half dozen secret passage ways no one else knew about.

Harry was so honestly miffed by the time he reached his Trigonometry class (how he scored higher than Ron in Math, high enough to get into such a class, he would never know) that he barely even noticed when Edward sat beside him. He _did_ notice of course, and took appropriate action - a polite greeting and a mental warning that Harry was armed - but otherwise paid little mind to the vampire.

The usual introductory speech occurred, and the class was given work sheets. Harry was officially lost at sea the moment he saw the first equation.

"The number before the x shows how many steps up the lines goes on the graph for each to the side," Edward informed him quietly. Harry nodded discreetly, but still didn't understand much. Edward's quiet coaching lulled Harry into the frame of mind he often got when Hermione was helping him on homework (he almost wished he had stayed in Britain with her, instead of heading to the States, but... well, that would have ended poorly). He still didn't understand it at all, but he at least had an idea of a process.

"If you want, I could tutor you?" Edward offered. Harry knew exactly what he was doing, or what he thought he was doing. Seeking contact with his previous life, trying to understand Cedric, it was undoubtedly something of that nature. The wizard declined without even considering. He needed the help, but he could go to the after school tutoring center with Ron and Ginny if he actually cared about his muggle grades.

Edward continued to make small talk throughout the lesson, but not enough to distract Harry from getting at least half the worksheet done. It ended with an invitation for Harry, Ron and Ginny to eat at the Cullens' lunch table, which Harry declined again, though more politely than the offer to tutor.

He had no way of knowing that Edward's self-satisfied smirk was not from finishing the work sheet, but because he considered step one of Mission: Get Into Harry's Good Graces a success.

**Author's Note: Originally this fic was going to be updated weekly. Obviously didn't happen. But hopefully when the next chapter goes up I will at least start updating it... more often than I have been. Heh.**

(1) Based on the size of the Hogwarts class of '98 (aka: Harry's year) the average year at Hogwarts contains around 40 students. Which means there are only about 280 students at Hogwarts. There is an error margin of course, but if I remember correctly that's still about one hundred less than Forks High. (Forks High's entire population is about the size of my graduating class by the way... not counting those who didn't manage to graduate.)

(2) ... A joke... based on a line in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

(3) A reference to Zoolander, which is something that if you HAVEN'T seen youmust be living under a rock. Or 12. This is Twilight after all, so I can't say.


	3. Right Speech

Warnings: Contains many references to Hinduism and Buddhism (not in a convert-y way – I'm an atheist – but in a "this religion works well for this story" way), slash, Twilight (scary stuff there), crude language, shorter chapters than my norm, eventual character death

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and associates of whom I am not one. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and associates of whom I am (thankfully) not one. No views, religious or otherwise, are meant to reflect the views of the author (well... except the ones that make fun of Twilight, but those are well deserved!).

3: Right Speech

"Y'know," Harry sighed one afternoon, "you promised to _stop_ stalking me. This is rather the opposite."

It was mid-October, and Harry and Edward "happened" to meet each other at whatever generic film rental place was in Forks. Harry hadn't really been paying attention to the name of the shop that Ron had dragged him into; the redheaded teen had quickly become obsessed with watching films after Arthur insisted Harry teach them to use the "Vetelision" and "Bee Seer" because, really, why wouldn't he want to know what muggles found so fascinating about Bees? Harry had made the mistake of mentioning DVDs, prompting Mr Weasley into buying a player for one of those, too, and they broke in the machine with some film about aliens attacking the earth.

Mr Weasley had been shocked that muggles had mastered the art of moving photographs, and that the photographs could talk, and then even more so that there were creatures living outside of earth and destroying cities _and __the __Ministry __didn__'__t __know __about __it_. Harry tried explaining to the man that films were just a lot of pictures taken very quickly and sound was recorded separate and they were edited using computers, but the man would have none of it. Thankfully, he was the only Weasley to disbelieve him.

As soon as the first explosion occurred, Ron and the Twins were hooked, and Harry was made Ron's rental-buddy. Mr Weasley refused to watch any more films with them, unless they were cartoon films or fantasy, but funded their rental card nonetheless. So far, they had visited one shop or another, whether in Forks, La Push, or Port Angeles, at least once every other day. Every other time they went for films in Forks (and once in Port Angeles, but NEVER in La Push), Edward "happened" to arrive at about the same time.

"Isn't it enough that we have one class together?" Harry grumbled to the vampire under his breath, knowing he would be heard perfectly. He always double checked his occlumancy shields when he noticed Edward was nearby, silently thanking Dumbledore for forcing the lessons on him. Not only had he been saved some nightmares towards the end of the previous school year, but it had probably saved some lives.

"I am only attempting to get your attention," Edward seemed awkward, standing beside Harry, browsing through animated Japanese films. His own "brother", the big one that made Harry think of bears, was browsing the action section, his eyes riveted on a shelf that Harry knew contained films involving fast cars and, of course, explosions. Ron was only two shelves down, completely oblivious to the sangualis vampire standing mere feet from him.

Harry sent an annoyed look to the vampire at his side and then quickly turned his gaze on the films again. Fred and George wanted some of the "anime" films, after watching something called Dragon Ball one day while their younger siblings and Harry had been at school. Harry _really_ didn't want to know what was so riveting about a show about a dragon's genitals. From the choking sound Edward made at that moment, he didn't either. The young wizard smirked, but only a little, because he wasn't a prick like Malfoy.

"There are better ways to get my attention that _stalking_," he pointed out, making sure to take a jab at the vampire's tendencies. "What do you want my attention for, anyway? You said yourself that you aren't Cedric. Therefore we have nothing in common, unless you just want to be friends with the Boy-Who-Lived."

"Not in the least!" Edward actually sounded offended at the insinuation, which surprised Harry a little. "Although it is true that I am not Cedric Diggory, there is no denying that his past is mine. His experiences have helped to shape me just as my own have. It stands to reason that I would want to search for a link to that past, proof that it was no illusion, what happened to me."

There was no avoiding the twinge of annoyance. "So I'm a connection to a past that isn't really _yours_, just... I don't even know."

"Again you misunderstand," Edward's tone drew Harry's gaze, and the wizard wondered momentarily how the vampire could look so... human just then. "That it stands to reason does not make it the _only_ reason. My family is, as you call us, 'Sangualis', and as such we may blend into human society, but we may not live in one place for more than a few years at a time. We cannot grow close to any humans for fear that they will catch on and discover what we really are. We cannot live near magical settlements either, because of the prejudice all those of 'creature' status are subjected to. You are human, for all you sometimes think you aren't –" Harry winced then, but he appreciated Edward ignoring that, "and being able to make any connection to someone other than those in my family without fear of your reaction to our nature, having already experienced that..."

It was logical, and... well, Harry didn't _really_ mind Edward. Still.

"S'not the best way to go about making friends though," Harry stated after a moment. "If you really want to be friends... Oi! Ron! Is it okay if Edward and his brother join us at the cinema?" He called this across the shop, causing the clerk to look up and the employee who was stocking shelves in the children's section to drop a stack of dvds.

Ron, being Ron, just called back an affirmative while Edward's brother Emmett sent a strange look their way. Edward sent a very similar look just to Harry.

"I know you haven't made friends outside your family in a while, aside from your friendly acquaintances at school, and that's probably all of Cedric that you managed to catch on to," Harry continued on as if the shouted exchange had never occurred. "And, to be fair, I haven't really gone out on a limb to be social in a while either, but generally blokes go out to watch a film or a sporting event or something to bond. I think. Not entirely sure, really, but it can at least be a building block for us _trying_ to be friends. At the very least I'm better off being on good terms with a family of vampires than having you lot after my blood."

"You... have an interesting way with words," Edward informed the Boy-Who-Lived. "And yet you are entirely correct. I have not 'made friends' with anyone in such a manner before." Harry wondered if Edward had made any human friends at all since his turning, and Cedric had had such social ease that something like going to a film, even if he had been a muggle, wouldn't have been his style.

Of course, Harry had never made friends that way either. His friendships all just sort of... happened. He had decided to grab three films for the twins and picked up the empty cases quickly. "You can go talk to your brother; we're leaving in five minutes." Harry swiftly beat feet to go speak to Ron. It wasn't a private conversation, so he didn't care that Emmett was still mere feet away, or that Edward was moving in the same direction.

"Hey mate, should I pick up the cartoon film or the dragon one for dad?" He lifted two options – one featuring a cartoon elephant with the ridiculous name of "Dumbo", while the other showed a rather good cgi dragon and boasted very good special effects – but it was obvious which one Mr Weasley would enjoy more.

"The elephant, I think," Harry rolled his eyes and plucked the case from Ron's hands. "The dragon film would hardly have anything he hasn't seen before, and he liked the other films from Disney. Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Ron grabbed two films from under his armpit with his newly freed hand, obviously his personal selections, though Harry questioned why one of the titles included the word "pink". If his friend tried to beg a liking for chick flicks off as doing Ginny a favor, he'd eat his own foot; they had brought her a romantic comedy once, and the results had not been pretty. "So, we're taking vampires to a film?"

"Cullen said he wants to make friends," or that was the gist of it, but Harry didn't feel the need to go into detail. "I'm pretty sure watching films is a muggle bonding ritual or something. I mean, Dudley rarely went to the cinema, so it _has_ to be a good idea, right?"

The snort of laughter Harry heard came not from Ron as expected – he outright laughed – but from Edward, who was still one rack behind them to speak with his brother. Most of the vampires Harry had met – very few, and all at the start of summer to be entirely fair – had kept their emotions entirely bottled up. It was rather surprising to hear one laugh, even though Harry _knew_ that Edward, as a vampire with a soul, was special and did not have that same distance from humanity that most others possessed. Not that it was something exclusive to Edward, as Harry had heard second hand that Emmett was known to be almost as human as Edward at times (though not in those terms; Mike Newton, after all, wouldn't know to use a comparison of humanity).

Dismissing the instance, Harry and Ron completed their dealings at the rental shop before heading outside to the small parking lot of the strip mall; the shop next door was for dry cleaning, while the other side had a sushi shop, a convenience store, and the main fixture of the strip, a moderately sized hardware store.

Edward and Emmett were already standing beside a silver car that still glistened with the rain from that morning. It looked at least moderately fast, and more expensive than any of Vernon's company cars from Grunnings, as well as entirely too small for people as tall as those Harry would be accompanying. True, Edward looked to be barely beyond six feet, still rather tall but not unusually so, but Ron was a lanky six foot seven, and Emmett looked to stand nearly even with him, though the inch or so of difference was made up with pure muscle.

Honestly, for an average-sized bloke like Harry, it was enough to feel inferior. But only if one forgot his triumph over the Dark Lord Voldemort and current ranking as #1 Most Eligible Bachelor of the Magical World and speculated as being in the Top 10 Most Powerful Wizards Born In The 20th Century, though he refused to let the Ministry measure his magic.

There was, unfortunately, nothing short of obliviation that would manage that for Harry any time soon.

"Are you sure we'll all fit in that?" Harry eyed the car and kept glancing at the taller boys. "I don't reckon you use expansion charms like what Mr Weasley's got…"

"We take this car to school every day and it fits all of our family fine each time," Emmett shrugged. "Oh, and shotgun!" He was already opening the door to the aforementioned seat while Harry and Ron traded confused looks. Apparently Edward caught their shared befuddlement.

"People call shotgun to say they will ride in the front passenger seat," was the simple explanation he gave the wizards. With the Dursleys, Petunia always had that seat, and with the Weasleys it was always Mrs Weasley or Ginny, so the idea of squabbling over who had the seat beside the driver was a concept lost on them both.

Then again, unless it was a day where Mr Weasley was driving them to school, Harry and Ron usually walked everywhere in town. Maybe the twins argued about it sometimes.

Harry and Ron piled in, deciding their arrangements based on leg room to have Harry behind Emmett and Ron behind Edward. The arrangement of having the driver on the left was still off to them – scavenging the Anglia from the forest left the Weasleys with a car of English standard after all – but neither boy relied too heavily on grabbing tight to things when in motor vehicles anymore.

"What movie are we going to?" Edward asked as he put his car into drive.

"It's called Shark Tale; I saw an advertisement for it on the telly last week, and it's just come out," (1) Ron pitched excitedly. "Ginny says movies like that are pitched for kids, but we picked up something called Aladdin for Dad a couple weeks ago and that was supposed to be for kids too, but there were so many bawdy jokes Mum made us turn it off. I think that films for 'kids' have a lot of things like that, I swear I've heard some things in them that Mum would cast a cleaning spell on my mouth if I ever repeated them!" His grin split from ear to ear as he said the last bit.

Emmett laughed and began divulging children's films with such moments, dirty jokes and scenes that could be taken so many wrong ways that Harry wasn't sure he liked the idea of a kids' film market with those things.

Then again, if kids didn't notice these things until they rewatched them a decade later, what did it matter to him? The only time he'd ever seen a film as a child it was some horror film Dudley had bullied Vernon into letting him watch, and Harry only saw snippets between cleaning the hall near the living room and, later, washing up Dudley's vomit from I front of the telly.

Who was he to judge what parents subject their children to?

As Emmett and Ron talked about films – and Harry couldn't help but wonder if Edward's statement about wanting to be able to talk to someone outside the coven who knew what he was didn't extend to other members of the family as well – Edward drove the circuitous route to the cinema. Harry clung to his seat, certain they were doubling the speed limit, all the way.

Well at least _Ron _made a friend.

* * *

Edward had not been able to believe that Harry would willingly invite him to spend time, but after the film could somewhat understand. Ron lacked theater tact and was constantly laughing and making comments during the entire film, something Edward found deplorable but seemed to amuse Emmett if his snickers and thoughts were anything to go by.

When they exited the theater, Alice and Jasper were waiting out front with Emmett's Jeep. Though Jasper was looking a little nauseous around all the humans heading back to cars after the film – especially the children who were yapping happily away or screaming for candy – his girlfriend was smiling, though uncertainly. They approached the Jeep, though Edward sent a glance to his car, wondering what inspired them to come along.

"I saw that you would want your car," Alice explained as soon as they approached. "Ronald needs to head home, and Emmett is going to be running late for his date with Rosalie tonight if he goes home first." The tallest vampire swore under his breath and Edward scanned his thoughts to find that this was true; luckily it was a date in Port Angeles, which was conveniently in the same direction as the Weasley residence.

"I suppose this is good-bye for today then?" Harry looked up at Edward, brow arched.

"Actually, you have a test in Trigonometry on Monday," intercepted Alice again. And this was true, they did. "Harry's going to fail it unless you can explain sine waves to him better than the textbook." Edward could even see the vision Alice had of Harry being passed back his test at the end of the week with a big shiny red F in bold at the top, and the entire first page, which was basic conceptual sine and cosine problems, heavily marked.

It was good to know some of the problems though, since Alice was obviously setting Edward up to tutor Harry. Outside of the occasional tip in class he hadn't managed to help much, and help was certainly something Harry needed; apparently wizards didn't need any math beyond what 4th grade children knew unless they took the Arithmancy courses.

Cedric hadn't taken it, and even if he had, Edward wouldn't have known it. Class material was not information of the soul like what Edward had learned of him.

Edward turned to Harry and quirked an eyebrow.

"I take it you're a seer then," Harry sighed, looking rather put out. "Not that muggle grades really matter much, but I suppose it would serve its purpose. Would you mind then Edward?"

"Well now you've got that worked out, I need to go," Emmett strode forward and snatched his keys from Jasper's outstretched hand and beckoned Ron to join him. The redhead barely even looked back; his thoughts showed rather clearly that he trusted Harry too much to consider them dangerous. Both because if Harry was going to trust a vampire coven then Ron would trust that opinion, and because he felt that if they tried something Harry could probably escape at least alive if not unscathed.

The Jeep revved to life and tore out of the small parking lot, trailing a startled scream from one ginger wizard.

Harry was given shot gun in Edward's shiny car this time, so that Alice and Jasper could sit together in the back. It was a silent journey, aside from Alice instructing Edward to just go straight home, since Harry wouldn't need anything for studying that Edward could not provide. The one time he looked at his brother and sister in the back, they were cuddled up close, having not bothered to buckle up, and Alice had a rather tragically affected look across her features as Jasper held her. Her mind was a jumble of distractions, and all he could get from Jasper was the bittersweet emotions he was pulling from Alice.

Unsure what it meant, he didn't dare to ask, and continued driving home, perhaps a little slower than normal when he noticed Harry had grabbed on to the seat. How strange, given he knew of Harry's preference for fast dives in Quidditch, with the broom going faster than Edward's car, but he struck it as something that he could ask later if conversation became thin.

The car rolled into the driveway of the Cullen home and Edward took care in parking it in the garage; there was a chance of hail and he didn't want it to get dinged.

Harry was neither over nor underwhelmed by the home, so Edward didn't waste much time on a tour. Having gone to school in a castle, perhaps that made sense; he had lived somewhere far grander, but had also been to homes that could fit in this one a few times over no doubt. Carlisle had a late shift that day, and wouldn't be home until well after dark, and Esme made her presence minimal, asking what Harry would like to eat before driving away to buy food - likely entirely too much, but it was her decision. Whatever Harry didn't eat would go to animals in the forest or something.

Eventually, they settled in Edward's room; he asked if Harry would want to listen to any music while they worked, but Harry had just shrugged, informing him that he didn't really know anything about muggle music. The vampire felt a little silly for asking; even as a muggle raised wizard, it made sense that Harry wouldn't know much about music. Children tended to be okay with listening to what their parents liked or what was on the Top 40 radio stations (because children understood that something popular must be good, rather than forming a true opinion), and he would have had very little exposure to anything beyond what was on the Wizarding Wireless Network at Hogwarts.

Having listened to it once since the rejoining of his soul to his body, Edward could safely say that muggle music was the superior. There was no life to magical music.

They settled, and Edward gave Harry a couple of sample problems from the text book to do so he would know precisely where the problems lay. Watching the pencil flit about uncertainly over lined paper - two things that the wizard was bound to be unfamiliar with after so many years outside of muggle education - Edward could only feel his curiosity grow.

"If you do not mind my saying so, Harry, you are... different from how I remembered you," Edward hedged. "Cedric competed in the Triwizard Tournament against a boy with an iron will and a lot of luck. You seem..." He stopped as Harry's eyes nailed him.

That iron will was still there, but there was something else behind Harry's occlumancy walls that Edward could not glimpse. All he got was a repeated message in Harry's head of "do not ask".

"You aren't exactly Cedric, either," Harry replied, his voice more even than the insistent voice in his head. "Just because you inherited his soul - your soul - and some of his traits doesn't mean you're him." His pencil had stopped as soon as Edward spoke, and did not resume.

"The soul was mine first, and came to me after," frowned the vampire. Harry's surface thoughts were turning a little spiteful, running through loops that would have made Edward's stomach turn had he eaten. "I hardly find it fair you should be angry at me for it. For decades I was a vampire, soulless as any other; even sans soul I was a good person, mostly. But I wasn't human. Is that what you don't like, that I'm not human? I have all these thoughts and memories flitting about in my head now that I would never have thought two years ago, experiences my body never had but my mind is telling me are integral to the personality I now possess. To be so human now but still so inhuman, to still crave blood when I can remember homecooked meals...

"Vampires have terrible memories before their transformation. I can't remember what the Masens - my parents - looked like anymore. By the time I was out of my newborn state, I couldn't remember them hardly at all, I just had Carlisle. But now I can remember Cedric's parents, cheering him on at quidditch, or congratulating him for good grades, or just smiling at them because they could. That is part of my identity now. You can hardly blame me for it. And wanting to find connections to that life is hardly my fault either. I remember these things, and here you are, evidence that I am not mad.

"Unless, of course, the memory of my soul being blasted out of Cedric's body was false, and all the pain I experienced with the integration was, in fact, a hallucination. Then please, do feel free to criticize me. Though since all I remember is the green light and pain, maybe it is. I don't even know how I ended up with a soul again, or why he died or what happened, I just know that it did and I am here."

If any of it were a hallucination, Edward would eat his own foot, into eternity if need be.

"Of course it was real, I saw it happen! Cedric and I got to the cup at the same time, and we took it; it portkeyed us to that thrice blasted grave yard and suddenly Voldemort was telling Wormtail to 'kill the spare' and you were- I mean, he was dead!" Harry snapped the last part. "It's ridiculous that you would look so close to exactly like him, but here we are! You- Cedric was killed right in front of me, and then I was used to bring Voldemort back to life, and when I escaped I _brought your body back to your parents._ They were so sad... and after that everything happened so quickly!

"So yes, I changed, and it all started when Cedric died, alright? It was his body that ended up being the proof that got the Daily Prophet to announce Voldemort was back. The Ministry tried to cover it up but Rita Skeeter decided for once in her life to cover important bloody news rather than stalk teenagers and at the autopsy they proved it was the killing curse, and since my wand never cast it they knew it had to be someone else so they _finally_ used my memory... and by the time I turned 15 everyone knew, and suddenly I was this savior. And I had to be trained to kill Voldemort once and for all. Do you have any idea what that sort of pressure can do to you? I was still mourning Cedric when they threw me in front of Death Eaters attacking a village and I had to either fight or die!

"It's hardly been six months since I killed Voldemort, and in the end none of that training helped, because it came down to the same thing that happened in that graveyard when we were fighting over your body, and that shade came out again and said to leave Britain. So here I am in bloody Forks, tired and overtrained and the shade of the person whose bloody soul you've got told me to come here and now you're questioning me when all I want to do is relax for a bit! And I still don't understand any of this bloody maths!"

The Boy-Who-Lived deflated while Edward stared on wide-eyed. He hadn't heard much news from the wizarding world since shortly after Cedric's death, and little of that had to do with Britain; certainly he had heard the Dark Lord was back.

They stared each other in the eyes for a time before Edward voiced the tiny thought in Harry's head. "Thank you."

It was good to know why he had a soul again. And, in Harry's case, though the boy never did voice the thought, he gave small mental thanks for allowing him to blow up like that. In the months of training there had been no time, and in the time after he was always surrounded by friends and loved ones who would take offense to his explosions.

Edward was not close enough as a person that, if he did take offense, it would not effect Harry so deeply. Even with the several moments of confusion in his diatribe, Edward knew that he held Edward Cullen and Cedric Diggory are entirely different people, and Edward's resemblance to the fallen teen would not hold sway over the wizard.

After Edward dropped Harry off at the Weasley home, he knew it was a talk they both had needed.

**Author's Note: …So, sorry I bollocksed things up and didn't post until now. Can I just say that the last year and a half has been fairly busy (work, school, vacation, social life, moving, pets, and I'm on my second boyfriend for that period of time (we've been together 9 months and looking good)) and not bother with further excuses?**

**I do want to finish this story. And I will. But I can't devote much time. This chapter sat idle between the end of June '10 to the end of November '11. So… yeah. Hopefully I'll finish it soon. But no promises. In that time I did try to work on it a few times and never got more than a sentence down, usually less. Hopefully getting more than half written in one night is a sign that I'll be able to knuckle down again. The closest I ever got to actually working on it was right before my current boyfriend and I got together, and now I'm just taking initiative.**

**Oh, and if you think I'm arrogant to think people will still read this after an accidental long hiatus... blame the story stats page. I still get more reads than I have any right to, even so long after my last post.**

Shark Tale came out October 1, 2004. I can completely imagine a movie-holic Ron dragging Harry to see it.


	4. Right Action

Warnings: Contains many references to Hinduism and Buddhism (not in a convert-y way – I'm an atheist – but in a "this religion works well for this story" way), slash, Twilight (scary stuff there), crude language, shorter chapters than my norm

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and associates of whom I am not one. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and associates of whom I am (thankfully) not one. No views, religious or otherwise, are meant to reflect the views of the author (well... except the ones that make fun of Twilight, but those are well deserved!).

4: Right Action

The time it took for Edward to integrate himself into Harry Potter's life was less than expected, and only caused his feelings – no longer Cedric's, he was certain – to intensify.

Harry was a fascinating young man. He was genuinely kind to people, but wouldn't put up with brown-nosers or people who tried to antagonize him; the latter he told off and the former he ignored outright until they approached as an equal. And as he saw anyone willing to treat him as such to be his equal, that was fine.

He was neither popular or unpopular; a couple of girls found him cute, and Harry went out with one of them to the homecoming football game and dance in mid-October. Edward had kept a close eye on the pair, but they had done little more than share a short kiss once she found that the wizard did not know – and did not want to know – how to dance the provocative styles his peers displayed, as he could barely pull off a waltz right, let alone wiggle his limbs in odd ways that would be considered in some way or another to be "sexy". The girl spent most of the dance talking with her girl friends and, and Edward was content that Harry wouldn't fall for some Forks girl right in front of him.

By November, it was normal for Harry and Edward to study together in the school library for an hour or two twice a week, just enough for Harry not to fail his classes. Ginny rarely joined, as she had joined the school's volleyball team for lack of Quidditch, and one of their regular days was the same as the chess club meetings, meaning Ron could join them only once per week, and even then he normally didn't, choosing to spend his time flirting with Jessica Stanley instead.

When Thanksgiving rolled around, Esme insisted Edward invite the Weasley family over, though they didn't accept. The elder Weasleys were not fond of Harry's choice in locals to befriend – Edward had met them only once and, while they were kind, their thoughts whirled with concern for the well being of the savior of the wizarding world in the face of a "dark creature" such as himself – and being British did not see any point to the American holiday beyond that the three attending muggle school had the week off.

They had only broached the topic of what happened after Cedric's death once more, at the start of December. Edward learned of Harry's time in training at the Ministry, being relentlessly drilled by aurors, healers, and even members of the Department of Mysteries in the arts of magical combat, emergency medical spells (in case he should break his leg in battle, for instance), and… _creative_ uses for certain branches of magic not normally used that way. The vampire still shuddered to recall what Harry could do with a potato peeling charm.

Edward could sense Harry still had reservations about him. Harry saw too much and too little of Cedric in him, and worried that he was becoming Edward's friend, not for Edward, but in an effort to posthumously become Cedric's friend and make up for their lack of interaction in Cedric's final year of life.

Edward, however, was a mind reader. He knew those were not Harry's motivations; knowing that Harry worried about that possibility made him that much more certain that it was not the case. Harry was an earnest sort. A little shy sometimes, a little too outgoing at others, but he was a Gryffindor and the Cedric in him remembered that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were kin houses. Both valued loyalty and honesty.

The most important thing, Edward thought, was that Harry accepted him. Never was there disgust for his vampiric nature - Harry had never met one before, and after the thestral incident never judged a being by what books said on them - or hatred for him assuming Cedric's form (after learning what happened that is). Harry did not judge Edward or compare him to anyone with malicious intent.

To Harry, Edward was Edward, and a perfectly acceptable person to spend a Friday evening with, no matter what Mrs. Weasley said.

"This is a great forest," Harry observed, looking up through the trees. They were in a part of the forest Cedric had walked many times, but as of yet had not brought Harry to. "Some of these would have been just saplings the first time you lived here, right? The only forest I have experience with was the Forbidden Forest. I don't know if Cedric ever went into it, but it was nothing like this."

"He did not," Edward confirmed. "Or else the impression would have been strong enough for me to remember a little, I think. The first time I saw the trees here, I think the entire family spent a few nights camping just to appreciate it, though we told each other it was because we couldn't decide where to build the house."

Harry chuckled and Edward snuck a glance at him, drinking in the sight of a happy Harry Potter. In whatever number of Cedric's memories that retained images of the boy, very few of them included a smiling face. Or footsteps squelching through a three inch thick layer of orange and yellow leaves, for that matter. Even with half the trees in the area being evergreen, there was a ridiculous amount of leaves underfoot, though most were already mulched so close to Winter.

Edward wondered if Cedric's soul could see this, if personalities really went anywhere after death or if they just disappeared, and, slightly sickened, decided it was best not to think on it any longer.

"Harry," Edward interrupted the flow of their conversation before he could lose the determination that brought him to this soggy bit of forest in the first place, "I was wondering if you would do me the honor of attending dinner with me this Friday?"

Edward could tell the exact moment that Harry realized what he was being asked. Not that Edward pried into his mind, no, his thought processes at this moment would be too private, and Edward didn't want to dash his chances by peeking, but there was a part of him that was always, if only peripherally, aware of Harry and if not what he was thinking, at least the stage in a thought process he had reached. He could feel it clicking into place.

"Oh, you're... oh," Harry hummed lowly and looked up through the tree branches at the great expanse of gray. Edward could wait for his response, he had lived more than a hundred years now after all, he could wait a few minutes for this. "Why?"

"Why does anyone ask someone to go on a date? I have developed feelings for you, my own feelings, though they grew from seeds from Cedric," Edward didn't dare look away from Harry for fear that he might be viewed as insincere, even as Harry refused to look away from the bare boughs above them.

"'From Cedric', huh?" Harry dropped his head back down and looked over Edward's face, and Edward knew he was seeing Cedric in those features. "So they aren't your feelings, you just clung to what you got from Cedric. That's it, isn't it? You've got Cedric's soul, you have his emotions. Are you just trying to live Cedric's life now or something?"

Though it wounded Edward to hear it, he knew Harry didn't mean it either. He knew Harry could scarce believe Cedric had liked him, that Edward was misinterpreting.

"Cedric liked you intensely, it's true, he even dated a girl to see if you would get jealous, though you were jealous of the wrong one," Edward frowned at Harry wished he could make him believe. "But my emotions are my own. It was harder to separate at first, but I know myself, and I know Cedric."

They stared at each other for a while before Harry smiled. Edward's heart soared.

"Give it time. It will go away."

Before Edward could reply, could understand, Harry had turned on a heel and disappeared with a soft "pop!" to leave the vampire alone. The only sound to accompany his slow walk home was the start of the rain in the trees.

* * *

It was three weeks later before Harry would speak to Edward again, and at first it was only to say "I told you so."

Christmas and New Year passed with no word, though Edward did drop presents on the Weasleys' doorstep in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. School started up again on January fourth, and brought with it a new student to Forks High. Not that Edward particularly cared about such things. New students were a bit of an oddity, sure, but Harry and the Weasleys were proof that it did happen on occasion.

He heard plenty in the minds of the other students before ever seeing her; she was Isabella "Bella" Swan, the daughter of the town's Sheriff, and flown in straight from Arizona. Paler than most native Washingtonians - and that was saying something - she was mostly rather plain. The image he saw of her in the minds of his fellows was a reasonably attractive face, fairly average, if thin, body. A very normal teenager all in all, and no one he felt the need to be concerned about. He'd been rather amused about her table during lunch but didn't bother reading anyone's mind from that far across the room. He could hear just fine.

The main reason he even glanced that direction was because Ron had started dating Jessica not long before Christmas, and Jessica happened to have decided to take the new girl under her wing. Meaning that Ron, his sister, and most importantly Harry were seated at the same table as the new girl, though Harry was apparently doing some homework last minute.

It wasn't until Biology that he realized anything was different about this girl.

She was seated in the seat next to his, giving him constant furtive glances. Not unexpected, Edward knew better than to think he _wasn't_ ridiculously good looking. His whole family was. They were used to the attention. But the movement of air in the room shifted and suddenly he could smell her.

Every inch of her he could smell. Specifically he could smell the blood under her skin and there was nothing more he wanted in the world. His thoughts of Harry vanished, his thoughts of Carlisle and his family vanished. He was hungrier than he had ever been, even though he had fed only a few days ago. Everything else faded into the desire for blood, her blood, because no one else's blood would do.

His mouth was suddenly filled with venom, and his body tensed, ready to coil and strike, to take her and shred her and lap up absolutely every single drop of her blood until nothing remained but shattered bones bereft of marrow and withered organs.

Then the teacher cleared his throat and started giving instructions for the day's class, and he realized that through the delicious, mind blowing scent, he could also smell her fear, fresh fear, fear that appeared in the past ten seconds as she felt his glare, saw the darkening of his eyes and the tensing of his body. It was like the scent of a deer in the split second before he ripped its neck open to feast. The one thing she didn't sense was his mind smashing into hers, trying to feel her thoughts, because there was simply nothing there, nothing to read, nothing to assault.

And he knew then that something was very very wrong with him.

"Sir? Can I be excused? I think- I think I must have eaten something funny, I need to go see the nurse," he lurched to his feet, not even needing to act like it was difficult. Tearing himself away from that scent, when what every fiber of his being was screaming at him to do was take her and destroy her and ingest every bit of her that he could.

He ran from the room, his only conscious efforts to keep to a human pace and to put a hand over his mouth - though he was really masking his nose - so that people would think he was rushing away to throw up.

He did go to the Nurse's station and was discharged to have a sibling drive him home. Alice was already waiting for him in the main office, so he handed her his keys and they walked to the car. The drive was quiet as Edward fought to think. He had to think, to defeat the blood thirsty worm in him.

"I never wanted to drink human blood so badly before," he whispered as he got out of the car at home, and he knew she heard him.

She just smiled, and he read the thought in her head as she started to drive away. _I know Edward. It will be okay._

He doubted it.

* * *

Harry frowned when he exited the school on the first day back from Christmas. Edward's car was in the lot, but his siblings were all piling in without him, Emmett taking the driver's seat. He waved a hasty good bye to Ron and Ginny, making sure that the vampires saw him before they could pull away. The car was humming with energy, ready to take off, but Emmett was kind enough to let it sit and wait for his approach.

"Where's Edward?" True, Harry hadn't been talking to Edward since before Christmas, but he also knew Edward had read his mind since. So Edward knew that Harry was just giving him a bit of space after the awkward declaration last month, wanting to let them both compose themselves and not be awkward at the next meeting.

"He fell ill in his fourth period class," Alice replied. "He says he ate something funny. The new girl, Bella Swan, was sitting next to him."

Bella Swan? Harry recalled she had been sitting at the same table as him for lunch, because he opted to join Ron and his girlfriend rather than the vampire table that day, though he fully intended to sit by Edward the following day. He didn't recall much, since he was trying to finish up some reading for his English class at the time, but the girl had seemed boring. Maybe a bit intellectual, but otherwise very boring. Her questions were standard, her attentions were standard. Everything was standard except for the amount of attention the boys of Forks decided to pay her. She wasn't especially attractive, right about in the middle of the range for Forks honestly, so he failed to see what drew so much attention first day.

Even Ginny didn't get that much attention her first day, and it was a common opinion that she was "smoking hot", according to the boys in the locker rooms before PE.

He recalled she also happened to have that class with him, but hadn't participated since she didn't have a PE uniform yet.

As of that moment, she was about twenty five feet away, getting into her beast of a car.

So what was so significant about her? Why would Alice bother mentioning the stunningly average girl at all?

"Budge up then," he opened the passenger side back door and, though Rosalie didn't like it, she moved her bag and allowed Jasper to slide into the seat beside her, though she shot Harry an annoyed look as she did.

Something was wrong; Harry needed to figure out what.

**Author's Note: That took longer than intended, and for such a short chapter. Partly because I kinda stopped caring again (I don't like Twilight, I just liked the idea I had for this... y'know, two years ago, and feel bad for not finishing), partly because I've been busy, and partly because SKYRIM. Honestly though, a lot of it I think was laziness and lack of inspiration. Still, I am Dovahkiin!**

**I'm not going to bother making promises about when the next chapter will be out. I'm busy. I have a life. I don't actually care about this story, but I know people want to see the end. If I don't think I will reach the end, I will write a chapter summarizing what the next 4 chapters would have been and then just write the three epilogues after that****. But only if I think I won't write the next 4 chapters; I'm going to give myself some time to think about it.**

**Though I'll admit, part of my distraction from my current ongoing stories started at the beginning of this month when I suddenly decided I wanted to rewrite a couple of stories. Not any you've seen here, but ones from an old account of mine that I haven't used in years. With a Midnight Smile. The stories in question are Nunquam Somnus: Never Sleep (I already have a couple chapters of this one done, though I won't post it until I have a sizable buffer - currently truncating the title to Never Sleep) and Walking on a Broken Past (not started yet, but the title will likely be shortened to Broken Past).**


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